The Fortune Cookie by Josi Kilpak

  Fortune Cookie Sadie Hoffmiller has always liked things to be just so. A place for everything and everything in its place. Order over chaos. And of all things Sadie should be able to control, her own wedding is at the top of the list. With the big day just three weeks away, Sadie is busily adding the final touches to her wedding plans but the arrival of a mysterious letter from San Francisco changes everything. The only person Sadie knows in San Francisco is her older sister, Wendy, whom she hasn’t seen since their mother’s funeral nearly fifteen years ago. Sadie has faced off against murderers and criminals in recent years, yet the possibility of reconnecting with her sister is both overwhelming and frightening. Sadie soon discovers, however, that the letter is just the beginning when Wendy’s world turns out to be a place of unanswered questions, twisted truths, and more than one person with a motive for murder. The more Sadie digs into her sister’s past, the more she places her own future at risk.

The latest Sadie mystery takes place in San Francisco after Sadie gets a letter from her estranged nephew that informs her about her sister’s suspicious death.  I am always a little worried each time I start a Sadie mystery that they will feel like the same old thing, but I am always pleasantly surprised at how Kilpack makes her mysteries feel so fresh. I am always intrigued at how she weaves her character’s lives together in in convoluted ways. Sadie’s long lost sister Wendy dies and Sadie has piece together her life to find out who might have killed her. As Sadie digs into her sister’s life she discovers the picture of a woman who loved to bother and torment people the way she did Sadie while they were children. While finding evidence that her sister was mentally unbalanced brings Sadie some peace it makes it difficult to find her killer. She also has the opportunity to find out more about her nephew who, despite a terrible childhood, now runs a successful restaurant and heads a family dedicated to helping him run it. She comes to respect and admire this man, but when some of the clues point to his family’s involvement things get a bit tense. I really enjoyed this one and hated to put it down each time I had to stop reading.

 

Blog Tour Giveaway $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 4/30/14 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway  

 

Baked Alaska by Josi Kilpack

Baked Alaska by Josi Kilpack

 This is Kilpack’s ninth installment in her culinary mystery series. The main character Sadie Hoffmiller, has a wicked streak of curiosity that continuously leads her to stick her nose into murder investigations. Baked Alaska is no exception with layers of mystery and multiple murder plots. Sadie’s investigative instincts are first alerted when her son Shawn confronts a woman she doesn’t recognize at the beginning of their Alaskan Cruise.

This woman turns out to be Shawn’s birth mother, which sends Sadie reeling with hurt and confusion. Shawn neglected to tell Sadie that he had found his birth mother and had even lied to Sadie to spend time with her. Then Sadie finds the woman passed out on a deck chair and all the clues start pointing to a poisoning. As more details about Shawn’s rocky relationship with his birth mother come out he becomes the prime suspected in an attempted murder. Sadie has to use her super sleuthing skills to keep her son out of prison and find the source of the real poisoner.

I’ve only read the first book in Kilpack’s series, Lemon Tart. I was a tad worried that I would have forgotten all the characters, but I slipped back into Sadie’s world quite easily. There was obviously some character back stories I wasn’t up to date on, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the plot line of this novel. The whole birth mother plot line is really interesting and goes places that I didn’t expect. So that made it a very interesting read, as all the connections between the characters are very twisty and very human. I empathized with Sadie as she tried to negotiate between the hurt her family caused her and her worry over the trouble they were into to. Overall, This was an engaging, fascinating, and compelling read. I’m really happy that Shadow Mountain gave me the chance to read and review it.

Josi's website

Baked Alaska is on a book tour hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and so has a giveaway attached.

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Daisy by Josi Kilpack

Daisy by Josi Kilpack

Daisy never had an easy time raising her children as she did most of it herself. She first got pregnant as a teen with a boyfriend who refused to marry her. Relying on her family she worked her way through high school and found herself a good job and life. Ten years later she finds herself pregnant again and unmarried, though this time her boyfriend decided to at least try marriage. Several years later the marriage fails and Daisy find herself as a single mom once again. Now that her older daughter is expecting a child and her younger daughter is in the last year of high school Daisy is very ready to move into a new phase of her life without children.  Both she and her husband Paul are counting down the days until they get the house and their time schedules all to themselves.

Then Daisy starts to get signs that she is pregnant, and offends her daughter so badly that she decides to go live with her dad. She realizes that perhaps her view on life needs adjustment, as she goes through the struggle of accepting her new pregnancy she learns to embrace the opportunity to be a mother again.

At first I was worried that it was going to be awkward to read four books that were interrelated over many of the same events and time period, but I think this series manages to make the characters with diverse enough lives and situations that they manage to keep the story interesting.  Daisy the second novel released in the Newport Ladies book club tells the story of a main character, who is very different from Olivia in the first book.  

It was interesting to read about how Daisy reacted to the events in the book group as she did have a unique take on all of the conversations in book group.  Being in a stage where she thought it was weird she was having pregnancy signs when she was certain she wasn’t pregnant lent a lot of new tension to scenes I was already familiar with. It was also nice to get to know a few more details about others in the book group. Daisy interacts with Paige on a more regular basis, for example, although she knows little about the struggles others are going through.

 I really loved the balance the Kilpack was able to strike in the book. The main character was not a Mormon but her friend Paige was. This lead them to have a few interesting conversations about god and Mormonism, but not in a context that was missionary in tone. Their conversations were really natural and were meaningful without being info dumpy.  I also loved the balance the author was able to achieve in the ending.  This book does not have a very happy romantic ending, but it was still an uplifting read. I loved that about this book.  The ending was not fairy tale perfect but at the end of it I felt really proud of the way the main character had navigated the most recent crises in her life. I felt like she was moving on to better and happier places. Daisy had come to understand the most important priorities in her life and was willing to accept the changes (good and bad) that her new mindset would bring.       

 To find out more about this series visit the Newport Ladies Book Club website

Lemon Tart Extra

So, I made my own lemon tart from the recipe in Josi's book. It was really delicious, especially nice as a cool summer treat. I didn't use a tart pan, but it turned out anyway!

Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack

Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack

Sadie Hoffmiller keeps an eye on her neighborhood. She know who comes and goes, and at what time. So when two police cars pull up in front of her next door neighbor’s house she needs to investigate. Anne Lemmon was her dear friend, and she wants to find out what happened to her. Then she discovers that Anne was murdered. Sadie is shocked by the tragedy, but determined to discover just who committed the crime. Even if the detectives feel that she is getting in the way.

Lemon Tart is a culinary mystery befitting of Sadie’s enjoyment of all good food. She uses her delicious recipes more than once to weasel her way into getting information of her neighbors about Anne’s death. Sadie’s curiosity and nosiness gets her into more than one dangerous situation over the course of the book. I have to admit that sometimes she annoyed me in this way, but what can you do? She’s a stubborn old lady turned amateur sleuth--she’s bound to do stuff she shouldn’t. Despite it all I really liked her and her quirky ways. All those little dangerous moments make for an engrossing and fast-paced read. I hope that if this book is cracked open while dinner is in the oven that it doesn’t burn. Sadie would be very sad to realize that her page-turner ruined your dinner.

I was a little surprised by the fact that Lemon Tart didn’t have any LDS characters or overt LDS themes. The book is base on strong moral principals and is clean, but it can be easily shared with those that are of a non-LDS persuasion also.

Josi Kilpack Author's Website

Josi Kilpack' s Author website

Josi Kilpack's Blog

Her Good Name by Josi Kilpack

Her Good Name by Josi S. Kilpack

Chrissy tries her best to be a good member of the church, a kind sister, and a hard working employee, and an honest person. So it doesn’t make sense when she doesn’t pass a background check for new employment, and suddenly has a fair credit score when trying to buy a new dishwasher. Chrissy is starting to get a clue that her identity has been stolen. Yet, this identity theft isn’t only looking for a quick buck, and Chrissy watches as her carefully constructed life begins to fracture apart piece by piece.

Micah, a man that she met during an awkward blind date, has also had his identity stolen, and when they find similarities between their cases they decided to work together to solve this crisis. Taking a piece of Micah’s advice to heart Chrissy decides to set out, and restore her good name.

I’ve been a fan of Josi Kilpack’s for a two years or so now. I love how all the main characters of her novels are so diverse and have such unique, yet realistic, worldviews from each other. I know I’m always going to get a taste of something new and unique whenever I pick up one of her books. Chrissy’s character does not disappoint in this newest novel, she is a strong, vivacious, single, Mexican-American woman, who doesn’t give up when the hard times hit. I had a hard time putting this book down when I had tons of stuff to do. The suspense of finding her identity “double” is intense, as Chrissy never imagined her identity stolen by such an evil woman, who was part of a violent and dangerous liberation movement in Guatemala. Yet, this villain has realistic motivations, and a goal that the readers can easily identify with. I thought it was a bit far-fetched that Chrissy would go so far to hunt down and break into the places that her identity double had been frequenting, but it was really fun to read anyway. This really is a fantastic book, and I would recommend it to all. The ending leaves enough loose ends that a sequel is very possible (and I sort of want one), but still has a satisfying ending.

Josi's website:http://www.josiskilpack.com/Official_Site/Welcome.html

Josi's blog:http://www.josikilpack.blogspot.com/

First Impressions: Sheep's Clothing by Josi S. Kilpack

First Impressions
This is a little series that details my experiences reading books for an hour a day in the library. I read the book either until I became disinterested in it or until I finished it.

Sheep’s_Clothing
By Josi Kilpack

Kate is a good mother, who has a lot of work on her plate with six children. She is determined to be a wonderful mother, who nurtures and takes care of her family. Yet, she can’t seem to figure out how to relate to her teenage daughter Jessie. They struggle to communicate and show one another how much they care. Jessie pours out her negative feelings to a friend she met on the Internet, and finds sympathy and support. Her friend introduces Jessie to her cousin Colton, and they begin to chat as often as they can. Jessie sneaks into her family office at odd times, isolates herself from her old friends, and progressively falls deeper into the trap set by an experienced Internet predator. When Jessie’s parents find her missing with a note on her pillow they don’t know where she has gone, or if they will see her again.

I loved this book! I finished it as soon as I could because I had to find out what happened. I was so creeped out by how realistically this guy manipulated Jessie. I also love how the characterizations in this book are so real. I love how the author makes Jessie’s problems real, and that she isn’t just a cardboard cut out teenager. You can sympathize with her viewpoint. It doesn’t have the cliché teen rebellion feel to it that gets rehashed over and over. I also love that you get to see the trials that Kate is going through. The reader understands her motivations and realizes that she is not a perfect mother, but loves her family so much. Over all, the book was really well written and touched on an important and pertinent topic. I highly recommend it.
This book has also been nominated for a Whitney Award.

Author Website: http://www.josiskilpack.comAuthor Blog: http://www.josikilpack.blogspot.com/

First Impressions

First Impressions
This is a little series that details my experiences reading books for an hour a day in the library. I read the book either until I became disinterested in it or until I finished it.

Tempest Tossed by Josi Kilpack?
This book immediately drew me in I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what happened next and how the problems presented in this book would be resolved. This book is about Janet a single career mother, who is on her third divorce. She has a young son named Josh that she loves and tries to take care of the best she can. In the course of the book the reader watches Janet spiral downward in the clutches of a prescription drug addiction. She meets and falls in love with a wonderful man named Terry. Terry discovers that Janet has a drug problem and tries hard to protect Josh, but in the end all of Janet’s lying leads him to feel betrayed and used. Eventually Janet ends up in a rehab clinic and is faced with the choice of starting anew or retaining her old habits.
This was an awesome book. It was hard to like the main character, Janet, because she was such a snob, but you really did empathize with her plight. For the sake of her son and her new husband Terry, you wanted her to have a happily ever after. I love how this book has such a strong message on the atonement and how we need to forgive those we love when they hurt and betray us. I would recommend this book to everyone, though readers should be aware that it is a little bit depressing. I’ve been a fan of Josi’s books for a year or so now. I really enjoy her style. Go out and read her books!
Author’s website: http://www.josiskilpack.com/index.html
Author’s blog: http://www.josikilpack.blogspot.com/